RAFI-USA
e-Bulletin
#9
January
20, 2003
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108th
Congress Off to Roaring Start on Ag Reforms
Letter to
House and Senate agriculture leaders
Sen.
Harkin's letter to USDA
USDA
Secretary Ann Veneman's reply
Briefs
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108th Congress Off to Roaring Start on Ag Reforms
As soon as
the 108th Congress opened, Senator Grassley
(R-IA)
introduced two bills that would bring fairness to
agricultural
contracts and livestock markets.
1. S. 91,
Fair Contracts for Growers Act of 2003, was introduced
January 7th
in the Senate and was assigned to the Judiciary
Committee.
The bill would amend Title
9 of the US
Code to provide for greater fairness in the arbitration
process
relating to livestock and poultry contracts.
So far the
following Senators have signed on as co-sponsors:
Sen. Michael
Enzi (R-WY)
Sen. Russ
Feingold (D-WI)
Sen. Tom
Harkin (D-IA)
Sen. Tim
Johnson (D-SD)
Sen. Pat
Leahy (D-VT)
2. S. 27, An
Amendment to the Packers and Stockyards Act of
1921, was
introduced by Senator Grassley on January 7th and
was assigned
to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and
Forestry. The
amendment would make it unlawful for a packer to
own, feed, or
control livestock intended for slaughter.
S.27 would
not apply to poultry processors since there are no
independent
poultry farmers of any size to protect with this bill.
This
situation is what drives the independent hog farmers,
cattlemen and
ranchers to seek protection before it is too late for
them also.
The bill is
co-sponsored by:
Sen. Mark
Dayton (D-MN)
Sen. Michael
Enzi (R-WY)
Sen. Tom
Harkin (D-IA)
Sen. Tim
Johnson (D-SD)
To read the
bills and keep up with the list of co-sponsors, visit
website:
www.thomas.loc.gov and type in the bill number as
directed.
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Letters to the Senate and House Ag Committees
Jan. 14th,
127 organizations send letter to Senate & House Ag
Committees
A four page letter signed by 127
national, state and local
organizations
was sent to the, Senator Thad Cochran, Chairman
of the Senate
Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Nutrition's
and to
Ranking Member, Senator Tom Harkin
Representative Bob Goodlatte The
Chairman of the House
Agriculture
Committee and Ranking Member, Representative
Charles
Stenholm.
The letter stated
in part "….we strongly urge you to place the
issues of
agricultural competition and market concentration at
the top of
your list of priorities." The letter reminds those listed
above that
following last year's farm bill debate, both the
Senate and the
House pledged to hold hearings with a view
toward
action. The Senate Agriculture and Judiciary Committees
held
hearings, and the House Ag Committee issued a questionnaire to organizations
seeking comments. "Thus, the time for considering specific legislation is
here," the letter states.
The letter
lists the competition problems and outlines 7
legislative
remedies.
1. A
prohibition on packer owned livestock
2. A Producer
Protection Act containing minimum standards for
ag contracts
3.
Transparency and minimum open market bill (packers must
buy a set
percentage of their supply from independent farmers)/
4. Captive
Supply Reform Act for animals on feedlots or in
confined
feeding operations
5.
Clarification of "undue preferences" in the Packers &
Stockyards
Act (P&SA)
6. Closure of
the poultry loophole in the P&SA
7. Bargaining
rights for contract farmers
[The names of
the signers are attached as page 4]
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Jan.14, 2003 - Letter from Sen. Harkin to Secretary Ann
Veneman
Senator
Harkin of Iowa sent a separate letter to Secretary of
Agriculture
Ann Veneman calling attention to "the hard realities of
agricultural
consolidation and vertical integration in the livestock
and poultry
sectors" of farming. He continues, "The sweeping
changes in
these industries in the recent past have left producers in
an untenable
position, with a severe decrease of bargaining power
and attendant
susceptibility to unfair practices and one-sided contracts."
Sen. Harkin
also blames GIPSA ( Grain, Inspection, Packers and
Stockyards
Administration) for not enforcing the Act it
administers.
Only one letter of notice from 38 competition complaints
was filed
during all of 2002. No administrative complaints for competition violations
were filed, no civil penalties for anti-competitive conduct and no
injunctions
to restrain packers from illegal conduct were ever filed.
Sen. Harkin
makes three proposals to remedy the situation:
1. Prohibit
packer ownership of livestock
2. Create a
special counsel for competition at USDA
3. Protect
livestock and poultry producers from forced arbitration
when settling
disputes
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Secretary Ann Veneman's Response
Secretary of
Agriculture, Ann Veneman visited the meeting of the
Domestic
Policy Committee of the US Catholic Conference of
Bishops in
Washington on January 14th. She had received a
copy of the
Bishops' Domestic Policy background information
telling her
that their policy favors family farmers, is concerned
about trends
in agriculture relating to concentration and
consolidation.
National
Catholic Rural Life Conference Director, Brother David
Andrews, who
also was attending the meeting, spoke with Sec.
Veneman about
some of those issues and later handed her a
copy of the
letter signed by 127 advocacy organizations .
Brother David
reported, " She (Sec. Veneman) said that if these
policies
described in the letter were applied, the companies
would move
out of the US. All of her economists at the USDA
have told her
they were not good policies. We should focus on
the good
news, like a group of farmers forming a processing
co-op
together .Rather than the bad news, focus on successes."
At least the
corporations are consistent. Over the past ten years
the poultry
companies have threatened to leave a state or the
country if
laws are passed that would impact their operations..
Reports of US
corporations already developing meat production
systems in
foreign countries give credibility to their threats.
******************************************************************
Briefs:
Farmer
Fly-in:
Contract hog
and poultry farmers are planning a fly-in to
Washington
February 6 & 7 to visit their Representatives and
Senators.
Laura Klauke at RAFI-USA is coordinating the event.
Contact Laura
at laura@rafiusa.org, or call at 919-845-4615 for
more
information.
Tyson
executives plead guilty
"Two
former Tyson managers pleaded guilty on Friday, Jan.
17th, to
conspiring to smuggle illegal immigrants from Mexico,
Guatemala and
Honduras into the United
States to
work at the poultry plants of the nation's largest meat
producer. The
guilty pleas come three weeks before others face
trial."
Joplin Globe, 1/19/03
The Globe
reports that Spencer Mabe, 50, and Truly Ponder, 59
pleaded
guilty to one count of conspiracy each and could each
face up to
five years in prison. Three other Tyson employees go
on trial February
4th. Another former Tyson manager, Jimmy
Rowland, 56,
of Shelbyville, TN, committed suicide in April 2001
after he was
indicted.
A book you
won't want to miss !!!
Plucked
and Burned , a novel
by Sylvia Tomlinson, skims the
surface in
the litany of tragedy that exists among deposed poultry
growers and
those still enduring as no more than indentured
servants.
Corporate corruption seems to know no end as
integrators
squeeze the growers and the plant workers of one
community in
order to improve the bottom line. Coming soon
from Redbud
Publishing with pre-release offering on
Amazon.com.
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Attachment : page 4
The following
organizatons signed the letter to the leaders of the
Senate and
House Agriculture Committees__
National Organizations
Agricultural
Missions
American
Agriculture Movement, Inc.
American Corn
Growers Association
Campaign for
Contract Agriculture Reform
Campaign for
Family Farms and the Environment
Campus Greens
Center for
Food Safety
Center for
Rural Affairs
Consortium
for Sustainable Agriculture
Research and
Education (CSARE)
Consumer
Federation of America
Defenders of
Wildlife
Farm Aid
Family Farm
Defenders
Food Routes
Network
Global
Exchange
GRACE Public
Fund
Henry A.
Wallace Center for Agricultural and
Environmental
Policy at Winrock International
Humane
Society of the United States
Institute for
Agriculture and Trade Policy
Institute for
Rural America
Land
Stewardship Project
Livestock
Marketing Association
National
Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture
National
Catholic Rural Life Conference
National
Contract Poultry Growers Association
National
Environmental Trust
National
Family Farm Coalition
National
Farmers Organization
National
Farmers Union
Organic Consumers
Association
Organization
for Competitive Markets
Oxfam America
R-CALF United
Stockgrowers of America
Rural
Advancement Foundation International, U.S.A.
Rural
Coalition/Coalicion Rural
Sustainable
Agriculture Coalition
United
Methodist Church, General Board of
Church and
Society
Regional and Statewide Organizations
Alabama
Contract Poultry Growers Association
American
Agriculture Movement of Kansas
American
Agriculture Movement of Oklahoma
American
Agriculture Movement of South Dakota
American
Agriculture Movement of Texas
Carolina Farm
Stewardship Association
C.A.S.A. del
Llano (Communities Approaching
Sustainability
with Agroecology) (TX)
Catholic
Charities, Archdiocese of Louisville (KY)
Cattlemen's
Legal Fund (KS)
Citizens
Action Coalition of Indiana
Community
Alliance With Family Farmers (CA)
Concerned
Citizens of Central Ohio
Cooperative
Development Services (WI)
Dakota
Resource Council (ND)
Dakota Rural
Action (SD)
Delmarva
Poultry Justice Alliance (DE, MD, VA)
Eastern
Kentucky Appropriate Technologies, Inc.
Georgia
Organics
Georgia
Poultry Justice Alliance
Idaho Rural
Council
Illinois
Stewardship Alliance
Illinois
Sustainable Agriculture Society
Independent
Cattlemen's Association of
Texas, Inc.
Iowa Citizen
Action Network
Iowa Citizens
for Community Improvement
Just
Community Food Systems of South Central Pennsylvania
Kansas
Cattlemen's Association
Kansas Family
Farmer Coalition
Kansas
National Farmers Organization
Michigan
Catholic Rural Life Coalition
Minnesota
Project
Missouri
Rural Crisis Center
Missouri
Farmers Union
Missouri
Stockgrowers Association
Montana
Cattlemen=s Association
Nebraska
Farmers Union
Nebraska
Women Involved in Farm Economics
New York
Sustainable Agriculture Working Group
Nevada Live
Stock Association
North
Carolina Contract Poultry Growers Association
Northeast
Organic Farming Association of New York
Northeast
Organic Farming Association of Vermont
Northern
Plains Resource Council
Ohio
Environmental Council
Powder River
Basin Resource Council (WY)
Rural
Virginia, Inc.
South Dakota
Stockgrowers Association
Southern
Research and Development Corp (LA)
Southern
Sustainable Agriculture Working Group
Sustainable
Earth (IN)
Sustainable
Food Center in (TX)
Virginia
Association for Biological Farming
Western
Nebraska Resources Council
Western
Organization of Resource Councils
Western
Sustainable Agriculture Working Group
Organizations within States
Appalachian
Crafts (KY)
Catholic
Charities, Archdiocese of Louisville (KY)
Center for
Earth Spirituality and Rural Ministry (MN)
Coordinator
of Rural Life Ministry,Office of Social
Justice,
Diocese of Gary, Indiana
EQUAL (NE)
Fall River
& Big Valley Cattlemen's Association (CA)
Fulton County
Citizens for Responsible
Agriculture
(OH)
Genesis Farm
(NJ)
Gila Citizens
for Sustainable Agriculture, Inc. (NM)
Grant County
Stockgrowers Association (OR)
Grant County
Cattlemen's Association (WA)
Heartland
Center (IN)
Kansas City
Food Circle
Karp
Resources (NY)
Kirschenmann
Family Farms
Lane County
Food Coalition (OR)
Madera County
Cattlemen (California)
Mankato Area
Environmentalists (MN)
North Central
Montana Stockgrowers
NorthEast
Neighborhood Alliance/Greater
Rochester
Urban Bounty (NY)
Okanogan
County Cattlemen's Association (WA)
Politics of
Food Program (NY)
Perkins
County Livestock Improvement
Association
(SD)
Powder River
Basin Resource Council (WY)
Puget
Consumers Co-op Farmland Fund (WA)
Sharing Help
Awareness United Network (IA)
Social
Concerns/Rural Life Office, Diocese of
Jefferson
City, Missouri
Social
Concerns, Rural Life Department, Catholic
Charities,
Diocese of Sioux City, Iowa
Southeast
Wyoming Cattlefeeders Association
Spokane
County Cattlemen's Association (WA)
Stevens
County Cattlemen's Association (WA)
Stewards of
the Land (KS)
Sugar and
Spice Community Club (NE)
Way Out West
(ID)
Western
Colorado Congress
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Edited by Mary
Clouse: clouses64@yahoo.com
ph:
919-545-0945
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